Noughts&Crosses (the series) book review

Noughts&Crosses (the scenes)-Malorie Blackman

(WARNING- Spoilers ahead!)

This series of books was recommended to me by a friend, when I saw the cover stereo-typed it into one of those cringey teenage books.  Damn I was wrong! There are 4 books in the series and I’m going to write about each one and what I thought.

Noughts and Crosses; the first book in the series, was my favourite. The main characters Sephy Hadley and Callum McGregor have been best friends since they were very young, and their story is mind-blowing. Their innocence and naivety makes them so much more charming. They’re trapped in this world where they can’t be together because of Racism. Sephy is a cross (black) and Callum is a nought (white) the crosses rule over the noughts and life is very complicated for them.  But as they grow older all they want is to be together, they sneak away from their families, but in the end, after many things change, Callum being able to attend a cross school, Sephy’s mother’s drinking problem, and her parents split, Callum’s father and sister dying, their love gets intense, but it’s still there Sephy goes off to a boarding school and Callum looses all hope and joins his nasty brother, Jude, who resents all crosses and is filled with hatred who also plays a major part in the next book; in the LM (Liberation Militia, a terrorist nought group fighting for their rights, very violently.)  Then I won’t go into too much more detail, Callum turns into a hollow shell, emotionless, then Sephy gets kidnapped(by the LM) blah,blah,blah, Sephy’s pregnant, her dad makes her chose, Callum or the baby, blah blah blah, Callum gets hanged. And every time I say that my heart breaks a little bit more.  Sephy’s baby is born and named Callie Rose after Callum.

Now, the 2^nd book, Knife Edge; this book was pretty good, I enjoyed reading it, mainly because I wanted to see how Sephy would be coping without Callum. She gets a job and even almost starts dating a guy called Sonny.  But she went through a lot of post-natal depression, she went to live with Callum’s mum, Meggie, at first I think they got on pretty well, but when Sephy’s depression kicked in things went downhill. It was actually scary reading about a girl, who in the previous book was strong and confident. Then she gets a letter, which is supposedly from Callum on the day he died, the letter is filled with harsh empty words that tear Sephy apart, her sadness just expanded continuously. Though I’d say this book was mainly about Jude. After his dad, sister, and brother dying and his mum letting a cross live with them he is on a new level of rage. He wants revenge on every cross on the planet, mainly Sephy Hadley. He blames her for all his family deaths and wants her dead. But then he meets Cara, a cross woman who at first he just wants money from, but he slowly falls in love with her, he resents himself so much for loving a cross and ends up killing her, it’s very sad how he can’t even let himself feel love. Anyway, the book ends on quite a dramatic cliff-hanger.

The 3^rd book, Checkmate; this was the cutest book. After a very rough beginning when Callie finds out from her nought best friend Tobey who her father REALLY was, and completely despising her mother from then. It’s quite a fast moving book, you see Callie grow up from a very tiny toddler, into a 16year old. Sadly Jude twists the poor girl’s mind and she ends up secretly joining the LM. Both her nana’s (Meggie; Callums mum, and Jasmine; Sephy’s mum) both play great parts in this book as they try to help Sephy regain a connection with her daughter. THEN THERE COMES THE BEST MOST AMAZING AWESOME PART IN THE WHOLE SERIES! Callum’s real letter! The one he wrote before with all the nastiness was just because he wanted Sephy to move on with life, but then she receives his real letter. It’s the nicest, sweetest, most loving beautiful thing I have ever read and my heart continued to break as I realised Callum was dead. Then, Jasmine and Jude die, Sephy and Callie are okay and the world is good! N’aww a happy ending! (Well mostly)

Now I’m sad to say, I really did not like the 4^th book. It’s called Double Cross; basically the whole book was about Tobey, Callie’s boyfriend. The series started about Sephy, and in the final instalment she’s mentioned about 3times. It’s all about gang-culture, I liked the general story line and everything but it shouldn’t have been a part of the series. Malorie Blackman said “It was meant to be a 3book series but then Tobey started whispering in my ear!” To be frank I wish Tobey would’ve shutup! So many stories are left in the lurch, Sephy and Nathan, Callie’s feeling for Lucas, and how Meggie’s dealing with the loss of her WHOLE family.  Really, I thought it was awful.

Overall an amazing series that I’d definitely recommend reading. I laughed cried, simply beautiful to start with and it’s very well written. All I’m saying is after the 3^rd book don’t get your hopes up.

Here's a fan trailer for the first book that I found on youtube. Hopefully this will tease you a little, enough to read the series yourself. Enjoy!